Eyeshield for headgear



Jan, 16,1951 H. vAcA EYESHIELD FOR HEADGEAR Filed April 27, 1948 VJNVENITOR. Humberto (/oca A T TOENE v.

Patented Jan. 16, 1951 UNITE D STAT E S PATENT 0 F l C E EYESHIELD- FOR HEAD-GEAR- Humberto V'aca, Detroit, Mich. V Applieatiomdprilx 27, 1948, Serial 23,429

i (01.. 21-10). g A

4 Claims;

This invention. relates to; head gear such as a cap or the like which is provided with a shield for protecting the wearers eyes from the direct rays of the sun.

More specifically, the invention is directed tothe provision of a shield which ismountedon the rnderside of the visor of a cap or the. like. so as to be readily maninu'atedto either. an operative position depending from the .visor before. the

wearers eyes, or an inoperative position. substantially flush with the underside. of the. visor so as to: leave the. wearers' View unobstructed. The sh ed may be considered as in the nature of a. shiftable. transparent sun shade and is particularly useful to persons whose. activities demand that their eyes be protected from the glare of sunlight, such as motorists, baseball players,

skiing, enthusiasts, and the like.

An object of the invention is toprovide. a mounting for a shield of thistype which is simple from standpoint of manufacture aswell asoperation. The simple construction results in. economy without sacrificing the. efiicient andpositive operation of the shield.

A further object of. the invention resides in the provision of a single spring for producing a.-

snap movement of the shield to: both thev operative and inoperative position, together with the elimination of latches, clips. and the. like for holding the shield in either ofv its positions;

Other objects. and improvements in the. way of construction and operation will become anparent-from the following description and drawings, in which I Figure 1 is. a view of a cap. provided with the shield of this invention, the shield being shownin the operative position.

Figure 2 is a: bottom view of aportion oi' the cap showing the shield in its folded or inoperative position Figure 3 is a cross. section through the-visorv of the cap taken substantiallyalong lines 3,-3 of Figure 2, illustrating the general arrangement of the shield mounting with the shield in the,

inoperative position.

Figure 4 is a side view, partly in section, of a portion of the cap showing the: shield in the operative position.

2. types of caps or. hats as well, the princ-ipe. of operation being. the same: in all cases. shown Figure: 1,, the: cap comprises a body portion": Ml which is adapted to fit over the headot the. wearer and a. visor it which is. attached to the. lower edge of the capat the front thereof for shading the wearers eyes. Ilhe shield, generally designated at. i2, is mounted onlthe underside of visor H. and is shittable from. an operative depending position shown Figure l to an. elevated inoperative position shown in Figure 3. Shield 52. is preferably tormed of. a transparent colored material. such. as plastic or glass. which is. adapted. toserve as. a filter for the rays of the. sun. The: shie-d may also be formed from. a light polarizing; material. Inorder to permit the shield to lie snugly underneath visor H in the operative position, it is. preferably formed ofv arcuate crossv section which conforms to. the shape of the; visor. Along. its lower edge shield. 12-. provided with a notched out portion H: which provides clearance for the nose of. the. wearer when the shield is shifted to the operative position. as. is. best shown in Figure. 1.

On the. underside of visor H- there. is attached as by rivets M a support member l5 which extends generally in a forwardly and rearwardly direction atthecentral portion of the visor. Sup.- port member [5 is provided at each side with upturned reinforcing flanges. [5 which lend rigidity to. the visorj At the rear portion. of supportv I5, flanges- L6 are fashioned into. channel shaped edges H. which are turned inwardly towards each other in the form of a guideway on member [5. It-

will be appreciated that supportmember I51 may be formed economically from. sheet metal by a simple stamping operation. At the. front end of support member l5 there is secured as by rivet it a leaf spring 18 which extends in a generally rearward direction on. member 15.. S ring 68 is of shorter length than support [5 and normally tends. to flatten out against. the bottom face of support 55. At its free end spring i8. is fashioned into a loop 19 through which passes. a pin 2!). I Ahinge member 2|. is pivoted. on pin 2% by means of a pair of ears. 22' which are struck up at each sideof hinge 2%. intermediate its ends. Hinge 2! is fashioned with a main body portion or leg 23 on which shield I2 is attached and a short foot portion 24 which extends beyond the pivotal connection provided by pin 28: in an angu ar direction: with respect to theleg. portion 2 3 of the hinge. As is best shown in Figures 3 and 4,. foot 2d is offset angularly such that its. free end 25 lies to the rear of pin 29-. when the shield is disposed in the. inoperative position and, forwardly of pin. 28- when the shield is pivoted to the operative position; Thefree: end 25 of foot 24 is notched out as. at 26.- so' as to permit engagement .w-ith the channel edges ll of support 15 and As. is.

visor l i which limits its movement in the upward direction. It will be observed that theangularly offset foot portion 26 of hinge 2| maintains spring E8 in a flexed condition at all times. and the shield is thereby held in both its operative and inoperative position with spring tension.

When the shield is to be placed out of the way the wearer folds it upwardly to the position is engaged within guides ll to the rear of pivot pin'ft. Spring I8 is flexed downwardly and thereby holds the shield in this position. In this inoperative position the shield is out of the way and the cap may be worn and used without any disturbance or obstruction from the shield. When the wearer desires to use the shield for protecting his eyes he merely flips the outer edge of the shield downwardly with his finger and the shield snaps to the operative position shown in Figure 4. During the initial stages of this movement, the end of foot 24 moves forwardly in guides i1 and produces further downward flexing of spring 18. When end 25 passes forwardly beyond pivot pin 2!), spring 18 begins to flex upwardly and serves to snap the shield downwardly to the operative position with the end 25 .abutting against stop 26. noted that at this time spring [8 is still flexed downwardly and the shield is retained in the operative position with spring tension.

What I claim is:

1. An eye shield attachment for a cap or the like of the type having a substantially horizontally extending visor at the front portion thereof for shading the wearers eyes comprising a support member secured to the underside of the visor and having a guideway extending in, a, forward and rearward direction on the visor, a leaf spring means anchored at one end on said support, a shield, a hinge member, means forming a pivotal connection between said hinge member and the free end of said leaf spring, said hinge member having a leg portion and a foot portion inclined relative to each other, said shield being fixed to said leg portion forpivotal movement therewith It will be anchored at the front end of said support and extending rearwardly therefrom, a shield pivoted adjacent one edge to the rear end of said leaf spring, said shield being pivotable to an inoperative position substantially underlying the visor and an operative position depending from the visor before the wearers eyes in a plane substantially perpendicular to the line of vision, a foot member-pivotable with said shield and spacing the pivoted edge of said shield downwardly from said visor so as to flex said leaf spring downwardly at its rear end away from said support when the shield is disposed in either of said positions, said foot member having a toe portion slidable to and fro in said guideway when said shield ispivoted, said foot member being inclined to the plane of said shield such that said toe is shiftedin said guideway to a position forwardly of the pivoted edge of said shield when the shield is pivoted to said operative position and over center to a position rearwardly of the pivoted edge of said shield when the shield is pivoted to said inoperative position, and a stop, on said guideway for limiting the forward movement of said toe to the operative position of said sh eld, said toe in the operative and inoperative positions'of the shield being inclined substantially to.

the plane of the visor.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 2 including means on said guideway engaging said toe to prevent separation of said toe from said guideway.

4. An eye shield attachment for a cap or the like having a visor, comprising a support mounted on the underside of the visor, an elongated spring mounted on the support so that it' has a free part shiftable toward and away from the support by the flexing of the spring, a hinge member having a pivotal connection with the free part of the spring, said hinge member'having aproje cting portion nor-- mally yieldingiy held against the, support by the spring, a shield connected to the hinge member and angularly disposed'relative to said projecting portion, the shield being pivotally shiftable,

" together with the hinge member, to and from an toran inoperative position substantially underlying said visor and an operative position d9";

pending from the visor before the wearers eyes in a plane substantially perpendicular'to the line of vision, said foot portion having a toe at one end spaced from said pivotal connection and slidable in said guideway, the inclination of said foot portion relative to said leg portion being such that said toe moves along said guideway from a' position rearwardly of said pivotal connection to a position forwardly of said pivotal connection when said shield is pivoted from the inoperative to the operative position, said foot portion maintaining said spring in a downwardly flexed position throughout the extent of movement of said shield.

2. An eye shield attachment for a cap or the like of the type having a substantially horizontally extending visor at the front portion thereof for shading the wearers eyes comprising a support member fixed on the underside of the visor and having a guideway thereon extending fore and aft relative to the visor, a leaf spring inoperative position in which the shield underlies the visor and an operative position in which the shield depends from the visor and is in front of the eyesof the wearer, the angularity of the shield and the said projecting portion of the REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fie of thispatent:

UNITED'VSTATES PATENTS Number Name Date 154,548 Hamilton Sept. 1, 1874 256,393 Shone Apr. 11, 1882 1,709,765 Auel -1 Apr; 16, 1929 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 278,286 Germany Sept. 26, 1914 

